Episode 1429: Catch Me if You Can
Date September 12, 2019 Summary Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller banter about the costs of Christian Yelich’s broken kneecap and other injuries disrupting pennant races and the Mets-centric personal-catcher controversy involving Noah Syndergaard, Wilson Ramos, and Tomás Nido. Then they answer listener emails about the mystery of Edwin Díaz (and the more minor mystery of Justin Verlander) and whether we’re heading for a post-pitch-type sport, plus a Stat Blast about batter results on 3-0 counts and further discussion about out-of-nowhere closers and viral fun facts about Bruce Bochy and the Mariners. Topics * Edwin Diaz's very bad results * Hit by pitches on 3-0 counts * BABIP on 3-0 counts * Justin Verlander's high home rate rate * Episode 1303 follow-up: Where closers come from * Fun facts vs. numerology * Yu Darvish and a post-pitch-type era Intro Green Day, "Christian's Inferno" Outro The Pigeon Detectives, "Making Up Numbers" Banter * Christian Yelich's injury and its impact on the Brewers * Impact of injuries on 2019 postseason storylines * Cody Bellinger, Christian Yelich, and the MVP race * Noah Syndergaard's insistence on a personal catcher Email Questions * David: "Any ideas what the hell is up with Edwin Diaz? Has any pitcher ever been so good and so bad at the same time? It seems like it should be impossible to strike out 15.5 batters per nine innings and still have terrible results, but he's found a way. He has the ERA- of Peter Lambert and the xFIP- of Max Scherzer. Is this just small sample size and bad luck or is there some way he's breaking some of these metrics?" * Andrew: "Re: The Darvish discussion, do you think we’ll ever reach a point where certain pitchers just don't have repertoires, per se? They'll have such mastery over their mechanics, they can just sort of go for break and run or whatever on demand? Like one pitch he just tries for 3-4 inches of drop on the lower half, then he goes for a big drop inside, but his mastery of mechanics is such that hes not limited to what we would call pitches if they had to be classified?" Stat Blast * This year a record number of players have been hit on 3-0 pitches. * BABIP on 3-0 pitches is .321 this year, it was .263 the year before. Sam finds that BABIP on 3-0 pitches fluctuates wildly from year to year in part due to a small sample size (about one player season). Notes * The Brewers have been outscored by 27 runs this season but have a great record in close games. * Sam, on Christian Yelich, "The man managed to slip and slide naked without hurting himself, I thought he was invincible." * Ben says that despite the poor results he would continue to trust Edwin Diaz in the closer role. * Sam examines the rise of several closers around the league and highlights the places they began the season (or ended the 2018 season). Links * Effectively Wild Episode 1429: Catch Me if You Can * Christian Yelich's Broken Kneecap Is Why We Can't Have Nice Swings by Ben Lindbergh * Noah Syndergaard confronts Mets bosses over Wilson Ramos frustration by Joel Sherman and Kevin Kernan * Noah Syndergaard addresses catcher controversy, meets with Mets leadership by Justin Toscano * Mets reliever Edwin Diaz enters record books as awful season continues by Mike Mazzeo * The Mystery of Justin Verlander's Home Runs by Craig Edwards * Justin Verlander Shoots for Another Record by Zachary Hayes * Who, me?! Why your team's next closer will probably be a total surprise -- even to him by Sam Miller Category:Episodes Category:Email Episodes